My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Here's where to share your experience of raising a child or growing up in a multicultural family.

Multicultural families

mongolian blue spot and child abuse

28 replies

upsetndistressed · 21/10/2008 22:37

I have just returned from the hospital after the most distressing 24 hours. It all started innocently when I took my dd (aged 5 months old) to see the dr as she was crying unusually a lot and I thought her arm was hurting her (when I changed her clothes and massage her, she cried when I reached that arm). The doctor took one look and noted a 'bruise' on the arm. He then wrote a referral letter for the hospital where he implied that it may be non-accidental injury (ie. abuse). The doctors and consultant(!) in the hospital implied again that we may be abusing her. What a shock it was for dh and I! We would never dream of hurting our little girl. I mentioned that it could be a mongolian blue spot as she has quite a few all over. The consultant said that they cannot tell as they did not know it could appear on the arms and shoulders!! They even asked my permission to photograph it as if it is a mongolian blue spot, it would be useful for training purposes, being so rare there! Is this true? When I did a hasty check on the internet, mongolian blue spots have been noted on arms and shoulders. So why didn't the doctors and consultant know that?
They ran some tests and x-rays on dd and the results came back as normal. So we were allowed home. This incident has really distressed dh and I. In the first place, if the spots were recorded in her red book when she was first born, none of this would have occured. Apparently the health visitor was supposed to have done that. I remember clearly the health visitor mentioning it to me 'oh, she has these spots. totally normal', but obviously it was not recorded anywhere.
So upset and distressed...

OP posts:
Report
HRHSaintMamazon · 21/10/2008 22:41

does she have MBS?

i know it was distressing for you all but it is reasuring that Gp's are acting so swiflty on cases that could possibly be CA.

As horrible as this sounds, it is better thatyou have 24 hours of stress than a young child is abused.

Report
misdee · 21/10/2008 22:43

dd3 has a MBS on her bum. i asked for it to be recorded in her blue book. the GP noticed it at her 6 week check, i hadnt noticed it so asked my HV to make a note of it officially.

Report
ILickYourSlimySleeves · 21/10/2008 22:49

Oh Upsetndistressed, that is an awful thing for you to have been through but I can see why they did it, although they could have handled the situation far more sensitivly. My DS has MBS on his bum and lower back (i had them when I was a baby too) but no-one has ever metioned this, should it be recorded in his red book?

I hope you feel better soon x

Report
stitch · 21/10/2008 22:51

i used to be very naive. i thought all babies had them. was very surprise by all the furore around them.
so sorry you had such a horrible time.

Report
AbricotsSecs · 21/10/2008 22:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

upsetndistressed · 21/10/2008 22:52

Yes, she has mongolian blue spots on various parts of her body, most notably her bottom. I read on various websites that doctors should know how to differentiate MBS and bruise - obviously not true in my case! And don't they know that it can occur on arms and shoulders?? Ignorance like this can cause a lot of stress and heartache for families accused.

OP posts:
Report
serenity · 21/10/2008 23:14

Both my niece and DD had them on their wrists, so it can't be that uncommon? Sadly DD is almost 5 and no longer has a cute blue tailbone, DSs had lost theirs by that age too.

Report
pinkmagic1 · 23/10/2008 16:24

My health visitor actually reported me to social services over my DD's MBS. There is my original thread somewhere on multicultral families. It was extremely upsetting and disturbing experience, I really feel for you. People are so ignorant about MBS, even so called 'Health proffessionals'.

Report
upsetndistressed · 24/10/2008 11:34

sorry to hear that u had to go thru the same thing too, pinkmagic. so what did you do in the end? did u make an official complain to anyone? i am just so angry and hate to think that another family might have to go thru it too.

HRH, I understand what you are trying to say about protecting abused children, but what about protecting innocent families and children? My dd should be protected from having to undergo tests and not one, but a series of x-rays (hence exposure to unneccessary levels of radiation), just because of ignorance amongst doctors about MBS. It is not just 24 hours of stress, it is far more damaging than that.

You can tell that I am still upset and distressed...

OP posts:
Report
pinkmagic1 · 24/10/2008 20:52

Upsetndistressed, I made an official complaint about the health visitor. My GP, who I went to see in tears after social services called, officially diagnosed the mongolian blue spot and also had stern words with the health visitors superior.
My blood still boils at the thought of what happened and I feel said my dd's first weeks where marred by this horrible incident. You must complain and take it as high up as you can. A HEALTH PROFESSIONAL SHOULD BE ABLE TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A MONGOLIAN BLUE SPOT AND A BRUISE!

Report
AuntyJ · 15/11/2008 10:32

I'm gobsmacked at the behavouir of healthcare proffesionals.
DD's spots where pointed out to me by the midwife! DS has numerous ones on his bum and a perfect circle the size of a 10p piece on the top of his arm. Not once have I been questioned.
Please can you report this incompetence no wonder we have children dying who are supposed to be under the care of proffesionals if they cannot distingish the diff between mb and real bruising.

Report
Rachel709 · 15/01/2009 22:16

Hi

My son has a bluespot on his bum/back. My daughter has one on her inner thigh. I made sure the health visitor wrote about it in their books and would urge anyone else to do the same.

Also when they started childcare I told the nursery about the bluespots so they didnt mistake them for bruises.

Unfortunately you cant be to careful about this as people do jump to conclusions that they are bruises.

Report
mumnanny1 · 22/01/2009 14:26

I have just had a baby daughter, 2 weeks old, and am feeling really concious about them because the health visitor seemed to be suspicious of me when I told her about the blue spots. My midwife had seen them and immediately said they were mbs but the health visitor insisted on writing down where they were and asking me details of my previous heath visitor (I have a son who is 3) not sure if this is standard practice?! I just felt really awkward about it. My daughters mbs are on her arm, both legs, and bum.

Report
FriarKewcumber · 22/01/2009 14:30

Its very important to get the mbs's noted so your HV is doing the right thing to note them. It will become obvious when she looks at them again that they haven't changed so don;t worry.

I have a friend who is currently being accused of abusing her son because of mongolian blue spots which the social worker have never heard of .

Luckily the paediatrician who examined the child said there was absolutely no sign of abuse at all and was rightly surprised that a child protection worker in an inner london borough had never come across blue spots before.

Report
no5 · 22/01/2009 14:38

im so sorry, you had such terrible time. i think its very upsetting for people who get abused by medical professionals who supposed to know these thing better than general public.

Report
Gorionine · 22/01/2009 14:50

How terrible for you!

All my Dcs had a big MBS at the bottom of their back. I had no problem about it with the first three dcs, but I had a new HV when DD4 was born and I had to explain to her what the "bruised like" area was. I cannot start to imagine how panicked I would have been had she not believed me!

Report
urbanangel · 06/02/2009 10:21

Im shocked they were so quick to persume! When my son was 6 weeks old (when they have the 6 week dr check) she noted down in his records of his MBS, so ther was no confussion later on. I come from a very Multi cultural town so its a very common thing in babies here, so they are trained and educated in MBS lucky for me! Maybe you could ask for ur child MBS to be noted in their records for the future?[wink

Report
3timer · 03/05/2009 11:42

My son has one on his wrist, so Im sure it is not that 'rare'.....God love you though...

When he was born, the midwife noticed it straight away and showed me...he also has alot around his bum and back.....they really do look like bruises, but professionals should be able to tell the difference IMO, I think I would to be honest....

Report
Starbear · 14/05/2009 21:19

It's shocking to think after 35 years that the medical profession do not know this. My Brother was put in an incubator?????!!!when he was born as my mum was white. My dad was away on business, when he came to visit his son, they looked surprised. The nurses promptly took him out and said sorry we didn't know his Dad was Asian and that accounts for the blue marks on his bum and back. As this was recorded in the hospital my Mum had no further problems.

Report
dfmum · 18/10/2009 09:35

Blue Spot in Caucasian Baby
I feel so sad for all of you that have been treated so badly. I only noticed my baby's quite pale blue spot at the top of his buttocks and running down the crack between them and really panicked about what might have happened. I had never heard of the condition, especially as my husband and I are both white!
The worst thing was, I was really worried about going to my GP in case they thought that I had abused my baby. What a sad world - that was my immediate worry after my worry about what had happened to him. I actually got my chiropractor to have a look at it and she had seen it before and told me the name Mongolian Blue Spot. I was so relieved having tormented myself about what it was - had he developed leukemia, all sorts of silly worries!
I shall take photos and make sure it's recorded after reading the threads on this discussion - very good advice, thank you.

Report
northernspanishlass · 15/01/2010 13:12

I had a similiar experience when my child was a baby. She had mbs up her back and bum, and speckled on her chest and a large spot on her leg.

I took her for a jab and when she saw her leg had a spot she was rubbing it and looked at it puzzling. She questioned me about it.

I had to explain that it was her blue spot and her father was black. It did take some convincing.

It was a upsetting experience and I am perplexed that in this day and age, that nurses are unfamiliar about it.

I am sorry that you have had this upset. Hope you're OK soon.

Report
Monadami · 16/01/2010 19:46

It's amazing that we all know about Mongolian Blue spots, yet so many doctor's do not.

Report
Disenchanted3 · 16/01/2010 19:49

My son has a large one on his ribcage and his bum, my husband and I are both white which makes it quite rare and we got our health visitor and doctor to draw a picture of where the BS is and sign it and we take the red book whenever he goes anywhere to be examined so we have proof it is not a bruise.

Report
Jemnot · 11/04/2010 02:20

.bump.

I guess we were very lucky then. My son had a MBS on his bottom/lower back and the lovely health visitor appeared shocked. She was just checking him for his hips. I'd not thought to mention that his father was Asian so she didn't know. I'm very white, I'm have typical Irish skin and I am the daughter of a redhead so I'm very pale. I inherited my mothers skin. Because of this she had no idea that my son was half Asian and she was shocked at the blue 'bruise' on my sons body.

It wasn't till my dp walked into the room that she sighed with relief and said 'ohhh...'

Thank God she was educated enough to know what it was. The first time my son had a seizure (he's perfectly healthy, he just has febrile fits occasionaly) the doctor made a big deal of describing his blue spot and also a cafe au lait spot on his thigh for the notes. She said it was to protect us in the future because we could prove (from his notes) that these were marks that were just natural and not bruises or something.

Report
bruffin · 11/04/2010 02:33

DH and I are both white, but my dad is from cyprus. DS's had a MBS at the base of his spine and really did look like a bruise. I actually pointed it HV who told me straight away it was a MBS.
It's a good idea to take photos of it. DS's faded by the time he was 2.

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.